Fight led to fatal shooting

Saturday

Oct 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMJan 16, 2014 at 10:55 PM

SAN ANDREAS - Charity Ford, 56, of Burson appeared disoriented as she made her first court appearance Friday on charges of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her granddaughter two days earlier.

Dana M. Nichols

SAN ANDREAS - Charity Ford, 56, of Burson appeared disoriented as she made her first court appearance Friday on charges of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her granddaughter two days earlier.

"No, I don't understand none of this," Ford said after Calaveras County Superior Court Judge Douglas V. Mewhinney asked if she understood the charges against her.

Deputies arriving at the Ford family home on Amos Lane about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday found the body of Randolph Alan Ford, 52, in the home's driveway.

Autopsy results released Friday determined that Randolph Ford died of shock and hemorrhage from five gunshot wounds to his upper torso.

Detectives at the scene recovered two small-caliber handguns.

The Sheriff's Office reported that the shooting followed a domestic argument between Charity and Randolph Ford.

Britney McGhee, 20, the granddaughter of Charity Ford who lived in the home, also suffered gunshot injuries. She was hospitalized. The Sheriff's Office reported that McGhee was in stable condition Friday.

Charity Ford was arraigned on charges of murder, attempted murder and child endangerment. McGhee's 5-month-old son was found inside the house and was not physically harmed, investigators said.

After Ford told Mewhinney she did not understand the charges, he appointed an attorney to represent her. That attorney, Steve Rechter, entered a not-guilty plea on Ford's behalf.

Ford is scheduled to return to court Thursday. At that time the court is set to schedule a preliminary hearing of the evidence against her.

Randolph Ford died less than two years after retiring from a long law enforcement career in the Bay Area.

Debbie Licano, a senior departmental personnel officer for the Alameda County Probation Department, confirmed Friday that Randolph Ford formerly worked for that agency.

Minutes of the Alameda County Employees Retirement Association Board of Retirement show that Ford retired in March 2012. A former co-worker, Alameda County Juvenile Institutional Officer II Angela R. Gutierrez, said in an email that Ford had been her supervisor and that he worked in the department for more than 25 years.

The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office reported that it is still investigating the motive for the shooting and that Charity Ford has been cooperating with detectives.